The History of the Holistic Approach, Dependency, and Use Your Talents in EECMY

1.1. THE STRUGGLE TO PRESERVE THE HOLISTIC NATURE OF THE CHURCH

Biblically, salvation inseparably encompasses both the spiritual and physical needs of the human being. Hence, keeping the holistic essence of the church mission (serving the soul and the body of a person without dichotomy) has been critical and challenging in the ministry of the churches throughout the centuries. Often, “spirituality” has been understood in terms of word, not as part of deed. Thus, attempts have been made to balance the two in order to achieve holistic ministry within the church.

The Latin American liberation theology of the twentieth century was the movement which ignited the churches to look for their prophetic role for the oppressed. By reinforcing this notion, J. Andrew Kirk argues, “Due to its global strategy, the church’s activity is beyond that of saving souls; it includes the legitimate function of creating the kingdom of justice on earth”.9 Conversely, the Enlightenment thinking influenced the Western Christians to separate the physical and social needs of humans from their spiritual needs;10 consequently it brought ignorance in the spiritual needs of a person of faith.

In the Evangelical sphere, there were movements to reinforce the holistic nature of the church. In this regard, the international congress on world Evangelization in Lausanne (Switzerland) in 1974 accomplished the Lausanne covenant, which deals directly with “the nature of evangelism” and “Christian social responsibility.”11 By then, most Evangelicals gave less attention to human physical need, thus, Robert Moffitt argues that: “The development (working for the physical need of the human being) is the mission of